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Foreign Secretary comments on the situation in Egypt

Foreign Secretary William Hague responds to statements made earlier tonight by the Egyptian President and Vice President

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

We’re studying very closely what the President and the Vice President of Egypt have said. It is not immediately clear what powers are being handed over and what the full implications are. We think the solution to this has to be owned by the Egyptian people themselves. All we want in the United Kingdom is for them to be able to settle their own differences in a peaceful and democratic way.

And that’s why we’ve called from the beginning of this crisis for an urgent but orderly transition to a more broadly based Government in Egypt, and in the meantime we look to the Egyptian authorities to protect the right to peaceful protest.

Published 10 February 2011